Art Show 2014...

Well it's all over for another year...this year I was involved with the event over the whole weekend; unlike last year when we were away for the weekend to help at the Wandoan Camel Race Day.

Opening night on Friday is always an excuse to dress up...

The hall is filled with paintings for sale...lots of 'floral' paintings this year...

The church pews are rearranged and heavy boards placed on them for all the craft items to be displayed...

The pews are rearranged and hidden...

This year the Art Show was not opened by a politician...an artist called Glen Gillard did the honours...

Greg, the organiser,  introducing Glenn, who is on the left

On the Saturday I am usually rostered to help in some way with the Devonshire Teas...over the years, I have worked my way up from selling tickets for the D Teas to assembling plates of scones, pikelets with jam and cream :-)

I only worked in the morning as I had a school reunion in the afternoon...

On Sunday we still had a church service; a very cosy affair with the congregation sharing the space with the crafts. Father Jack commented that if any of us were cold, we were welcome to buy any of the beanies and scarves for sale on the craft tables :-)

After the service, parishioners walked around the craft tables and quite a few items were bought!

On Sunday afternoon I came back to help with the 'packing up' procedures...collecting up each exhibitor's items and then checking the inventories...can be slow work. (sadly it became obvious that there had been a small amount of  thieving as some unsold items were missing :-( ) 

Items are collected into bundles ready for checking the inventory sheets; these sheets are all done via the computer these days and show what items have been sold etc...

On Friday night I had fallen in love with 3 paintings by the lovely Gwen Kelso...they were all of flowers; a complete departure from my normal art purchases which are usually landscapes. So on Sunday afternoon I went a little earlier so that the show was still open...and I looked and looked at the 3 paintings...finally I decided on the one with mauve/pink poppies with lots of royal blue and purple in the background. 

Later in the afternoon when Gwen came in to collect unsold items I went up to her and reminded her that I had been a Supply/Contract teacher at the same school as she had taught at..she did remember me and when I told her that I had bought one of her paintings, she gave me a big hug! The children in Gwen's classes always had a sketchpad in their desk drawers and every day after morning tea, her students would sit and draw in those pads for 20 minutes...it was a brilliant way to settle children and I'm sure that many students would have continued to draw for pleasure even when they left Year 4.

Gwen Kelso...

The organiser of the art show did not have final figures for monies raised when I last talked to him but he had been very pleased with the progress totals on Sunday afternoon...

I had sold 95 tickets in the Raffle but none of those lovely friends and family had their tickets drawn, but the money raised is very much appreciated.
Unfortunately there is a bit of glare on the glass of the pastel drawing of a very old door.

The 3 prizes in the raffle. 

So the 30th Annual Art and Craft Show was over for another year!

Pews all pushed back into place...

The May Meet of The Sunday Stitchers' Group...

Last Sunday this group of crafters met at Ormeau, south of Brisbane, for a day of stitching, knitting, crocheting, talking, laughing, sharing ideas and of course, eating! This was a special day for us as we were also having a Baby Shower for one of our members, Tatyana! 

We had a 'cake'...which had been 'made' by a member's son.

A basket of goodies organised by Maree...

A number of the members had worked on a special gift for Tatyana...a baby quilt! Fabrics had been auditioned months before; the cutting, sewing, assembly had been done in strictest secrecy with Cheryl quilting and binding the quilt ready to present to the mother to be...

To say that Tatyana was surprised and then delighted, would be an understatement...

The day included some Show and Tell of members's projects...here are just a few...

And the group also celebrates members birthdays with everyone buying a fat quarter for those celebrating a birthday in that month. There were 3 of us May 'birthday girls'. 

There I am holding up my basket of fat quarters...absolutely gorgeous fabrics...and quite a few purples....

We use a lovely room in this Community centre...as you can see in the photo below, there is a wall of fold back glass doors which open out onto a lovely open space, with a grassed area beyond...great surroundings ! 

So what did I work on that day?

I started with some stitching but found that a bit of a struggle without my magnifier, so I only did that for a while. I then moved on to some EPP and in the last part of the day I moved on to some knitting. All in all...a perfect day, especially as DH was cooking dinner that night! Lol. ( well he was using some pasta sauce from the freezer that I had prepared earlier in the week!) 

Still keeping busy...

The family got a lovely surprise this Christmas. DsD1 has been quietly getting to know a young man who lives on a property close (ish; I think the property is about 60km away from Wandoan) to the school where she has been posted these last 2 years. Friendship has evolved into love and DsD1 is absolutely radiant! Last night DH and I, plus my BIL and SIL met the young man  when the couple came to dinner. 

He is from a grazier family and although we had tried to buy some meat for the BBQ at a specialist butcher, this butcher did not really have any cuts that would be suitable for cooking on the BBQ, so...we ended up with 'supermarket' steaks, chops and sausages. And our guest complimented us on the meat's quality! (polite?)  It was a lovely evening and even though lots of questions were asked of our guest, I'm sure he didn't mind. :-)

My lovely BIL and SIL...two of our best friends!

 After Christmas I've been organising a couple of new craft projects...

A new project with long hexagons...

 It was amazing what I found in my stash that fitted the theme, sewing. The other morning I sat and fussy cut quite a few of the hexagons but still have to work out what I'll use for the squares. I'm making something for my first swap of 2013 and, for now, it's a bit of a secret :-) It's not a table centre like the photo below but I will use the same layout for this project.

I made this for a Christmas 2011 swap; have never received acknowledgement that it arrived safely :-( 

Another secretive project that I've started is some knitting...the yarn looks grey but is actually black...it's not for a swap, but a gift for someone...

Another little task I've been doing is sorting through some boxes of photos. While DH is 'glued' to the TV watching the cricket, I sit on the couch and look through the photos and collate them  into groups and/or themes. I have found lots of photos of parish life from when my children were little. So far I have shared an album of photos of a 1992 parish concert on Facebook, much to the delight of former parishioners, as well as present day ones! In a later post I'll share some of them :-)

Friday Night with Friends...

Cheryll over at Gone Stitchin' has organised another night just like FNSI but called Friday Night with Friends, Last night was the first one...Cheryll celebrated the first of these night by posting a tutorial for making a 'tools' bag'.

This is what I 'got up to' :-)

First of all I finally finished stitching the design for a Christmas wallhanging that I started last year at the annual Christmas party at my local patchwork shop, The Patchwork Tree. There wasn't enough thread in the kit and even though I had bought a package of the thread, somehow I had not got back to the project. Now it's still not finished as I still have to 'back it' and then sew down the excess into a border.

I also sewed up some mini Christmas stockings and put a few finishing touches to them with ribbon and bells. Another member of K4BN sewed bells on some of the stockings that she made and I thought, 'Why not'! lol
I'll continue to make these mini stockings over the next month or so, as several hundred are required by a number of organisations which help the needy in the community.

The last bit of craft that I did before bedtime was a few rows of the chevron throw on my needles at the moment. 

Using up lots of scraps and oddments of yarn, this project is 'growing'...

Many thanks to Cheryll for organising this event....To see what others did go here for the links to each participant's blog. Great fun :-)

Another recipe...

Thanks to my lovely SIL, Sonja, I now subscribe to the craft magazine, 'Handmade'. S gave me an iSubscribe gift card for my birthday. I normally borrow mags from the library so I decided that I needed to do a bit of research to find a suitable magazine which would come to my letterbox for 12 months. I borrowed a variety of magazines from the library which cater for my interests of gardening, cooking and crafts. Eventually the shortlist was 'Handmade' and 'Homespun' and I don't really know what tipped the scales in favour of the former but both magazines have a variety of crafts covered. My first issue came early this month...a Christmas special. There are some cute little elves to knit and some lovely sewing projects that have caught my eye.

Just arrived! Still in the plastic...

On Monday night I was reading the mag in bed when I noticed a recipe; it was called 'Chocolate Coconut Balls' and as I read through it I realised I had all the ingredients on hand.
I had wanted to make something to take along for morning tea at Tuesday's Knit and Natter and had toyed with making some scones or muffins early on Tuesday morning. I now knew what I was going to make...which I did next morning...the recipe was easy...and they were very popular at the K&N.

The rich 'chocolaty' mixture 

And here is the recipe from 'Handmade' Sept 2011 issue

The recipe is in the latest edition of 'Handmade'.
Ingredients:-
1 tin condensed milk
125g butter
100g dark cooking chocolate
1 egg
250 g milk coffee biscuits (I actually used Marie biscuits as i already had
them)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup coconut (plus extra for coating)
Method
place the butter and condensed milk into a medium sized saucepan and stir over
low heat until the butter has melted and the mixture has thickened slightly.
Add the chocolate, stirring until it's melted and combined, then stir in the dry
ingredients and remove from the heat.
Add the egg and mix well then turn the mixture into a bowl and refrigerate until
firm
Place extra coconut on to a plate, roll heaped teaspoonsful of chocolate mixture
into balls, then roll them in the coconut until well coated. Return them to the
fridge until ready to serve. :-)

Enjoy!

On my mind...the craft group, Sisters Of Stitch...

Today, being Friday, means that I'm joining in with Rhonda Jean's  here Friday feature, "On my mind'

On my mind today is the group, ‘Sisters of Stitch’ which I joined in February this year.  On Thursday, Rhonda wrote about a Craft afternoon at the local neighbourhood centre that she would be conducting.

 Rhonda wrote, ‘Craft is such a wonderful way to bring people together. It can be a bridge between older and younger women who want to learn various needle crafts, it is the vehicle that transports the household crafts our great grandmas used to decorate their homes and clothe their families to us to use in a modern way, and it brings people together to teach and learn in a way few other activities can.’

I have been intending to write a post about SOS for ages and Rhonda’s post is a great ‘springboard’ for that. Our group meets every second Wednesday at the Chermside library from 1.30 to 4 pm. This is a great venue as so many bus routes stop nearby and many of the older women don’t drive so depend on public transport.

The woman who co-ordinates the group, Judi, does a great job of making everyone feel welcome. We were both having a treatment at a small private hospital also in Chermside way back in February and recognised each other as former workmates at a north-side school. Judi was tatting, to while away the hours of her treatment and she told me it was a newish skill for her which she learned from an older lady.

Early birds. We have a large area for our session; actually 2 rooms with a wall pushed back

 She told me about the group and invited me along to the next meeting. She explained the group as being a place to take whatever craft you are happening to be working on, and enjoy a natter and a sharing of ideas at the same time.  Some of the ladies make items for charities and other groups, such as Memory Quilts for babies who die before, during or just after birth, quilts for Project Linus, and since I’ve been a member there have been challenges to collect items for flood victims.

Kath, the lady in pink, I already knew because she was a stallholder at the Stafford Heights markets.

Carin, the lady in the red top is another knitter; she knits garments but appreciates my throws. We are a mutual admiration society I guess! lol

There is a ‘show and tell’ session each meeting with lots of ‘oohs and aahs’ when we see such beautiful items.

Judi, holding my friend Cheryl's little embroidered bag, during 'Show and tell.

People come and go in the group; some familiar faces are there each Wednesday, others we only see occasionally. There is a wonderful camaraderie in the group and lots of sharing of ideas and techniques.  Some of the crafts which people do at SOS include, embroidery, petit point, red work, patchwork and quilting, cross stitch, various types of appliqué, knitting, crocheting and tatting.

Cheryl, http://blissintheburbs-kayly.blogspot.com/2011/08/new-bag.html wearing her crocheted cardi; the first garment she has ever crocheted! :-)

The all important afternoon tea trolleys; we take turns bringing in 'goodies' for afternoon tea.

I really enjoy being part of this group and I try to make sure I don't 'double-book' myself; I keep those Wednesday afternoons free!

Christmas in July...

At the end of last year I joined a club (The Possum Club) at a local patchwork shop as part of my retirement plan. So far I haven't signed up for any classes but I did put my name down for the shop's famous 'Christmas in July' function. People from overseas must wonder about this phenomenon here in Australia where Christmas is celebrated both in December and July???? It's a relatively recent thing though and started because Aussies have the official Christmas season in summer...not very conducive to those traditions of hot food and mulled wine for example. Restaurants, hotels and wineries run C.I.J. functions and various  groups such as fundraisers, and others such as my local patchwork shop!

The stitchery kit I chose...

The lady on the right also goes to the Knit and Natter sessions at Grovely

My Secret Santa gift...

As we arrived at the shop yesterday we were able to choose from a selection of stitchery kits which we then stitched during the afternoon. After about half an hour, coffee, tea, fruit punch and masses of gorgeous food was served. So for the next hour we 'grazed' on the delicious food, chatted and also stitched...what a lovely way to spend a chilly afternoon. But that's not all! We also had 'Secret Santa' and I got a lovely little Christmas set of a bowl and small plate. I didn't see who got the gift I took...it was a little Amish pin cushion/ needle holder/sorter that I bought in Intercourse, PA.

A busy Wednesday...

Yesterday was a busy day for both DH and I. I've mentioned before that DH is working on the coming Australian Census. A Census of the population is done very 5 years and there are a number of part-time positions which become available before, during and after Census night. DH is an Area Supervisor and is 'in charge' of recruiting, training and supervising 8 Census Collectors and 1 reserve Collector. Yesterday was Training day for the Collectors and DH chose me as the caterer for this event...lol

Tuesday night's baking; slice and 18 mini quiches

I started this role on Tuesday with shopping for supplies and some baking after dinner. On Wednesday morning I made a mountain of sandwiches, a fruit platter as well as arranging morning and afternoon tea drinks and food. Because DH left well before I needed to load the car up, I had to make a number of trips from kitchen to car but at the other end (a local public library conference room) I had willing helpers to assist with unloading the car.

All wrapped up ready to go!

Having delivered lunch and afternoon tea, I then headed off to another library where my craft group, 'Sisters of Stitch' meet every second Wednesday. I had toyed with not going to the group as I was quite tired but am so glad I did go! Judi, the organiser of SOS, showed us some quilts which the Samford Quilters' group had donated to Project Linus. I think there was a total of 11 children's quilts in this large nondescript 'hong kong bag'! What inspiration for me to get on and finish my raggy quilt for Project Linus. At SOS yesterday, I continued with the knitted throw that I'm making for K4BN; it's about half finished.

The latest update on Eduardo's progress...the abscess 'burst' late yesterday afternoon (yes yuck!) and being a typical cat, he spent most of the evening rubbing it with his paw. The wound looked much cleaner this morning though. The vet rang this morning to see how he was and I filled her in, saying that the swelling is completely gone. She recommended that I encourage him to eat by offering chopped up fresh chicken; I actually had been doing that but now it's like a prescription!!! lol